To develop new treatment strategies for genetic diseases of the nervous system, this project, initiated in FY 1993, aims to use viruses as vectors to transfer genes into nervous system cells in animal models. This requires identification of conditions in which viruses can be introduced into appropriate neural cell populations so that they exhibit long~term genomic persistence and expression of the transferred gene, and cause little or no central nervous system (CNS) injury. Neurotropic herpes simplex virus and human adenovirus vectors will be compared for their ability to fulfill these conditions in animal models.